Old Knit-Alongs

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Does this mean that I don't exist? Or that I live on my own little planet?

Some of you may be wondering whether I do, in fact, still exist, since this blog has been quiet for so long. But I'm hoping to remedy that. Maybe that will be my New Year's resolution. Forget those resolutions about exercising more, or using up my stash. Maybe I can actually accomplish a resolution to blog more.

Actually, there are 137,986 people in the U.S. with my first name, but no one with my last name. I guess that's one reason to hyphenate your last name when you get married -- to confuse little programs like this.

I'm tempted to convert my blog to use the new Blogger format. However, I've spent so much time pimping out my template I'm afraid to switch. Has anyone done so successfully?

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Thursday, September 28, 2006

The UPS guy had a package for me today, and, since I haven't ordered any yarn lately, you know what that means... I'm dead.

Socks of Doom received from my assassin, Mlle Udah

So, no more Sock Wars for me. Too bad, it would have been fun to kill more than one person, but with all the international mailing involved there was just no chance of that. Although this game was fun, I think the downside was that no matter how quickly you knit your socks it could not save your life. It was just luck of the draw as to whether you got a fast assassin or a slow assassin assigned to you.

I think it would be fun to have another sort of sock war where knitting a sock quickly would actually SAVE your life. I'll have to give that some thought...

In other sock-related news, here is a pair of socks that I finished recently. I made them with the Socks That Rock that I won in the Sock-a-Month KAL. Here are the specs:

This was the first time I've used STR yarn and I have to say, I can see what all the commotion is about. This yarn is great. Very boing-y and soft. I wonder how it will hold up to wear though? It seems to be getting fuzzy rather quickly.
You may be wondering why it looks like my socks are inside out. Well, that's because they are. I decided I liked the way the colors mixed better on the reverse stockinette side of the sock, so I decided to make that the outside. I knit them normally (with the knit side out) and just turned them inside out at the end before weaving in the ends. All I did differently was to pick up the stitches on the sides of the heel flap as to purl instead of as to knit.

Which do you like best:

the interesting reverse stockinette side,

or

the boring old stockinette side?

There was a bit of color pooling with this yarn at the ankle (as you can see in this picture) but it doesn't really bother me very much.

Oh, and by the way, my index finger seems to be better now. Yay, back to knitting.

I tried to lessen the pain of my victim's demise by sending her some hematite, crystal, and silver stitch markers that I made. Beading was my previous hobby, but it has been sorely neglected ever since I was introduced to knitting. If you think my yarn stash is crazy, you should see my bead stash. ;)

Before taking her last breath, my victim (in Georgia) was able to send off her finished socks to kill her victim (in England), so I will now be responsible for killing my victim's victim's victim (try to stay with me here). My victim's victim will not be officially dead until she receives her socks in the mail, and in the meantime she will be knitting socks to kill someone in Canada. However, since a little birdie told me that she hasn't started yet, I'm thinking she won't finish them before she gets her package of doom. So, all I can do is sit here and wait for my victim's victim in England to die and mail me her uncompleted socks.

With all the international shipping this could take a while, which is fine with me since my stupid right index finger STILL hurts. I am trying not to knit until it is better, but that is sooooo hard. [I'm sure you can relate.] In the meantime, I may be killed by my designated assassin who is in Utah. However, I emailed her on Saturday and at that point she had not started knitting and seemed rather unaware of the rules. So, who knows. What a confusing, but fun, game this this is turning out to be.

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Friday, September 22, 2006

Due to technical difficulties (hurricane in Northern Ireland which caused power outages) the Sock Wars pattern was not posted until about 3:30pm EST. This was good timing for me, since we had just finished school for the day (we're homeschoolers). Well, I cast on instantly and knit almost non-stop for the rest of the evening.

I lost a little time when I hit the turning of the heel and discovered that there was an error in the directions for that section (making the heel off-center). I spent some time posting a correction to the Sock Wars forum. Yes, I know that I may have helped my own assasin by doing that, but hey, there are a lot of newbies in this challenge and I'd rather be killed by receiving a pair of socks with a nice, centered heel than a pair with an off-center heel.

Anyhow, after that I think I paused only long enough to eat dinner and check my email about a thousand more times. By 11:30pm, here is what I had:

Not bad for about 8 hours of work, huh?

I can't finish these socks because I have not yet received my "assignment." I do not know the shoe size of my victim, nor do I even know WHO my victim is. Hopefully the email difficulties will be resolved by the morning and I can finish these off and get them in the mail before the post office closes at 1pm.

I have to say that I really like these socks. The pattern is simple but it makes a nice and cozy pair of socks, especially with the DK weight yarn we had to use. Hopefully my target will like them and not be too sad to die such a quick death.

Oh, and now the joint in my right index finger is suddenly rather painful. I think it was all that ribbing that did it. I'd be happy to be killed quickly to get out of this crazy challenge. My hands can't take too much more of this speed knitting.

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Thursday, August 31, 2006

Howdy! I'm back. My work should be over for a while so I should now have some more time to do things like reading blogs and posting to my own sadly neglected blog. I may not have posted much this summer, but I sure have been knitting. I've got a lot of FO pics to take and post about. Here are a few things to start us off.

First up, we have the Frost tank from Rowan 30. I made one of these last year for Daughter#2 (see pic in my gallery), but it was getting a little tight in the chest for her, so I decided to use up the rest of that yarn and make a bigger size. We passed the smaller one down to Niece#3 who seemed very pleased to receive it.

Daughter#2 and Niece#3 in their matching Frost Tanks.

Here they both are modeling their tanks which they wore to Tanglewood two weeks ago. We went to hear a violin concerto by Dvorak and Beethoven's 3rd symphony, but we got caught in the continuous POURING rain partway through the performance (we were sitting on the lawn). Luckily, we had raincoats and umbrellas ready, but still -- it was a drag. I got leg cramps from sitting all squished up under my umbrella, followed by a wet butt after getting up to stretch my legs and sitting back down again. Oh well, the music was great (particularly the violinist, Hilary Hahn) and we did get in a very nice picnic before the rain started.

Next up, remember THESE annoying socks from early July?. The ones where my gauge was completely and totally off? Well, I ripped them back to the ankle and knit the whole sock on the 2.5mm needles (with LOTS of trying on along the way).

What did I learn from this experience? Well, let's hope I learned never to ASSUME that just because you are using the same damn yarn and the same damn needles that you will get the same damn gauge. [You know, it's stuff like that that just sucks all the fun out of knitting.] Anyhow, here they are finally, on Sister#1's feet. She seems to like them.

Trekking XXL, color 71, on 2.5mm ndls, with picot trim ankle.

With regard to current projects, I am working on Meg Swansen's Super-Spiral Shawl from A Gathering of Lace. I'm using some laceweight yarn I got this summer from handpaintedyarn.com. It's their Kettle Dyed Pure Wool Lace Yarn in the color Paris Night, which is sort of a purplish-grayish color.

This is a circular shawl that's worked from the center out. In this picture you can kind of see the center (bottom left) with the spirals moving out from there. I love how it's coming out so far. Sure, it's super monotonous knitting, but that's what I needed for the summer. Something I could just pick up and knit, and knit, and knit, and knit, and knit without thinking about it. And this shawl seems to be the perfect project for that.

Oh, and I received by prize yarn the other day and it is WON-DER-FUL! That yarn in the upper right corner turned out to be Artyarns Ultramerino4 (as a couple of you guessed). Also, Melissa wanted to know the color nbr of the Lorna's Laces. It's #18, Watercolor. And, no, I'm not trading it. ;)

I have already almost finished a pair of socks with the Socks that Rock, and I am loving that yarn. I've also started some socks with the Knit Picks Simple Stripes. The yarn is a bit splitty, but I really like the colors. Hopefully, I'll have finished pics of those next time.

Well, that's it for today. I'll leave you with some pictures my garden (which I should probably go water).

One final thought: Don't these flowers remind you of fried eggs?

Oops, one more final thought: I signed up for Sock Wars. I'll be on vacation in Maine that first weekend so I'm betting I get killed before I kill, but it should be fun anyway.

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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

So, you've probably noticed that I haven't posted in quite a while. Nor have I been reading any blogs (or leaving any comments -- sorry, people). And I have no great excuse: no long vacation, no major illness, no overwhelming work schedule. I'm just a lazy blogger. Sorry about that (hanging my head in shame here). I just don't know how you dedicated bloggers can keep it up so regularly. Hats off to you.

Anyhow, I have been getting some knitting done. I finished the socks for Sister#1 (the annoying ones from my previous post -- the socks, not the sister). I'll be giving them to her this weekend, so wish me luck with the sizing. Also, I have very nearly finished a Picovoli tank for me. It think it's just a touch more "form fitted" than I would like. But it's cotton so maybe it will grow with washing. And I'm maybe 2/3's of the way into a spiral shawl (can't remember the exact name and too damn lazy to look it up). No pictures of these items, because again -- I am the essence of blogging lazitude.

You may be wondering what finally inspired me to post again. Well, because I was looking for a way to avoid work this morning, I decided I'd waste some time and check my blog stats (assuming they'd be way down since I haven't posted in eons). I was surprised that they weren't really down and started looking at the referrals. I noticed several referrals from Knittin' Mom, which I thought was unusual. So I visited her site and discovered......

It's just what I needed to get me out of the funk that I've been in. Also, I'm thrilled because I haven't tried any of those yarns yet. I've especially wanted to try Socks That Rock for the longest time, but I kept telling myself that I really should use up some of my sock yarn stash before ordering more. Lorna's Laces has also been on my "must try" list. And that yarn in the upper right corner looks very nice -- anyone know what it is? I didn't even know that Cascade made sock yarn, so I'm interested in trying that. Those bright colors will make some fun socks for me or the girls. Also, it will be nice to try out the two kinds of KnitPicks sock yarn.

OK, enough excitement and chit chat. I've got to get back to work. Then I've got to finish ordering homeschool curriculum materials and organizing our schoolroom/office for the new school year.

I will try to get back to more regular posting and commenting soon. I hope you are all having a great summer.

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Thursday, July 06, 2006

So, the plan was to secretly knit a pair of socks for Sister#1 for her birthday (which is at the end of July). I recently knit a pair of socks for Niece#1 which fit Sister#1 perfectly. I had another ball of that same yarn (Trekking XXL) and I took detailed notes about what I did to make those socks, so I figured this would be easy peasy -- I could use the same pattern and quickly whip out another pair. [Queue the music of impending doom.]

So that's what I did. I used the same type of yarn (just blue instead of purple), the same needles, the same number of stitches, the same number of rows, the same everything. [OK, I did a different thing at the cuff, but that's not significant.]

And here's what happened:

Craptastic socks that won't even fit over a ten-year old's heel.

Say it with me, "AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" Somehow I managed to knit the whole damn sock without noticing that it was extremely narrow. I was just knitting merrily away, so happy in my thoughts of how wonderful it was to be able to knit a sock without having to try the damn thing on all the time to check the fit. Sigh. Granted, most of the foot of this sock was knit in the dark in the car, in the movie theater, or while trying to catch up on some blog reading, but still. I really should have noticed. [Shoulda, woulda, coulda...]

I checked my gauge and it's 1/2 stitch (on the 2.5mm ndls) to 3/4 stitch (on the 2.0mm ndls) tighter on these blue Trekking socks than on the purple Trekking socks. According to my calculations, that should give a difference in circumference of about a half inch. Hmmm, that doesn't sound like a big enough difference to explain the amazing narrowness of these socks. Maybe I knit the foot on those purple socks with more stitches than I wrote down -- possible, but unlikely. Next time I see Niece#1 I'll have to examine those purple socks -- I'm really mystified.

At first I thought it might be that this color of yarn is thinner. But I just did a wraps-per-inch comparison and that does not appear to be it. I guess it's just me. I must have been 0.75 spi less stressed a month ago. Hmmm. Maybe that could be a new way to measure my stress level -- by knitting a gauge swatch with this sock yarn on US 0's. Kind of like a mood ring for knitters.

Persnickety's Handy Gauge Swatch Mood Indicator:

8-9 spi = super mellow (aka, too many cocktails),

9-9.5 spi = calm, relaxed (a rarely experienced state of mind),

9.5-10 spi = slightly on edge (my normal mood),

10-10.5 spi = overscheduled and stressed out,

10.5-11 spi = watch out, she's gonna blow!

In happier news, we had a birthday party for Daughters #1 & #2 today. This was their "friend" birthday party, not to be confused with their "relative" birthday party, or even the celebration that happened on the actual day of their birthday. [It's been a week-long celebration basically.]

Anyway, Daughter#2 helped me make this Piggy Cake for the event (they have a thing for pigs lately). Not the best workmanship, but kind of cute.

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Thursday, June 29, 2006

As you may have noticed, this blog has been rather quiet lately. June is one of the busiest months for me. All four of the people in this household have birthdays within the 30-day period from June 3 - July 3, plus there have been multitudinous other events to prepare for such as:

Father's Day,

a ballet recital,

Can you tell that Daughter#1 has had a growth spurt recently?

a piano & voice recital,

Daughter#2 playing something from the Magic Flute

Daughter#2 singing The Rainbow Connection

Daughter#1 playing . . . ummmm (bad Mommy can't remember)

Daughter#1 singing The Candy Man (note the candy-themed outfit, with candy necklaces adorning her various body parts -- her idea)

two graduation parties,

Half-brother#1 (I only have 1 of these, but I figured he should get a number just like everyone else) swinging at a giant smiley face piñata at Niece#1's party.

many, many softball games,

Daughter#1 pitching

Daughter#1 at bat

Daughter#2 hitting the ball

Daughter#2 ready to run home

a mini-vacation (more on that in another post),

plus all the usual crapola (trying to finish up homeschool lessons, trying to find time for work, etc).

Anyway, I've been busy. But I have gotten some knitting done. I've got a pile of completed projects to blog about. (OK, it's a small pile, but I feel good about it.) Here is the first on the list -- the Graduation Socks.

ankles done on 2.5mm, heel & foot done on 2.0mm, top of foot done on 2.25mm & 2.0mm. (Yeah, I like to make good use of my needle collection.)

Gauge:

8.5 - 9.5 sts/inch

Comments:

I made these socks as a graduation present for Niece #1, aka Oh, Jane. She has tiny little muchkin feet so I had to rip back a little to make them smaller at her graduation party, which just happened to be on Knit in Public Day. I guess that sort of counts as knitting in public. There were certainly several people there who were amazed by the whole sock-knitting process.

Oooh, the pretty purpleness -- as modeled by Sister#1, who, like her offspring, also has petite munchkin feet with dainty little ankles. (Who, me? Jealous?)

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Thursday, June 15, 2006

As I mentioned in my last post, making the Saving Grace headband has inspired me to look through my pattern books for other potential lace patterns that would work well with a worsted weight yarn for a quick headband. This turned out to be a bit more difficult than I anticipated. The use of worsted weight yarn meant that I needed to keep the pattern under 14 stitches so the headband did not become uncomfortably wide. I swatched a few options, but the headband below is the most successful one so far.

This headband is based on the Arrowhead Lace pattern stitch in Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It has a tendency to poof up in the middle (I didn't bother to block it), but it seems to flatten out when worn. Here's the pattern.

Arrowhead Lace Headband

YARN

Cascade 220 [100% wool],
color: 9455 (turquoise heather)

NEEDLES

US 7

GAUGE

approximately 5sts/inch

DIRECTIONS

Cast on 11 sts.

Follow the arrowhead lace pattern (using chart or directions below) until the headband is approximately 16 inches long (or long enough to fit around your head when slightly stretched). Bind off and seam ends together.

This was a great project -- super fast and easy, and yet quite lovely when done. The only thing I might do differently next time is to use a provisional cast on so I can kitchener the ends together and have no seam.

I made this headband for Daughter#1, and now Daughter#2 wants one as well. I'm happy to make more of these, since I have a whole rainbow of Cascade 220 that's just waiting for projects like this.

This pattern has inspired me to look through my stitch pattern books and find some simple lace patterns that might translate well to headbands. In fact, I found one that Daughter#2 likes, which I am currently working on. Pics of that soon.

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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Lunchtime has gotten a little more exciting here lately. The girls have been taking turns playing "restaurant". It was Daughter#2's idea. She started by writing out a menu and having us wait in the hallway to be seated.

[Click on the menu to view a complete list of the Lily Pad's offerings.]

Daughter#2 seated my party (which consisted of Daughter#1 and me) at a nicely set table with a view of the garden. She took our orders quite courteously and efficiently. She prepared all of the food herself (I was ordered to remain seated at the table -- and I was not about to complain). Our food was quite good, except for one small oversight. My peanut butter and banana sandwich had accidentally been made sans banana, so I had to send it back. The waitress took this in stride and quickly remedied the situation, explaining that she had been distracted by trying to make soup at the same time.

The pencil behind the ear was a nice touch.

My dining companion and I both agreed that our lunch was excellent and the service was outstanding. We promised our waitress that we would return again soon, especially after getting our bill and seeing how affordable The Lily Pad is.

What a bargain!

Of course, the next day Daughter#1 wanted to give waitressing a try, so she created her own restaurant.

[Click on the picture to view the menu offerings at Moo Bear's Restaurant.]

It was another enjoyable lunch. Now if I can just get them to do the dishes...

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Friday, May 26, 2006

No, I didn't drown in the flooding, I'm just a lazy slug who doesn't blog often. No, really, I've been quite busy and every time I sat down to blog, something came up to interrupt my spare time. I've even been sucked back into my computer consulting work, although only temporarily. And now there is gardening to do. Anyhow, thank you for your patience, dear readers. I will try to post more regularly.

At long last, I present to you photos of my Lady E. stole that I finished almost a month ago. Feast your eyes on its lovely colorifitude.

No, that tiny butt does NOT belong to me.

I finally got someone to model this for me. I am notoriously camera shy, and, anyway, it would be hard for me to take my own photo while wearing this. It can be a complicated business getting this thing to drape properly, or maybe I am just a stole-wearing novice.

My lovely model here is my about-to-become-a-high-school-graduate niece, aka Niece#1. She also goes by the alias Oh, Jane. when online. [I was instructed that I must include the period in her name -- and she says that I am anal.] She is starting her own blog to show off her artwork. She is super-talented and creative, so I can't wait to see more of her work, especially since I don't get to see her very often. If you go to her blog now you may still be able to see her temporary test post, which contains a picture of her at 8 years old, standing behind my daughters who were only about a week old. Too cute!

I did an extra 2 rectangles in width to make up for using thinner yarn than the pattern called for. I also did about a million rows of rectangles. [OK, I counted. I actually did 55 'tiers' of rectangles instead of the 35 in the pattern. It just felt like a million.]

Comments:

I enjoyed making this stole and I love how it came out. I have gotten over my crisis about the lavender. Learning to knit backwards really helped with my enjoyment of this project. If I had to turn the stole every 8 stitches, it would have been a huge drag.
Also, although I do LOVE the colors that apparently only Noro can provide (and why is that?), I will no longer be purchasing yarn from them due to my enormous frustration with the knottiness (naughtiness?) of their yarn. Four knots in one expensive ball is 4 knots too many. Don't worry, they will definitely be receiving an email from me on Yarn Rant Day (read the PDF about this here).

What a cute model. However, please note that she is much shorter than me. The stole does not come as close to dragging on the ground when I wear it.

In the book, they show this stole also worn as a scarf. I tried to do a shot like that and this is what I got.

Ummm, not so good.

OK, I tried again (my model was getting a little sick of me by this time) and it kind of works as a scarf, but only if your neck is really, really cold.

No drafts can get near this neck.

Overall, I'd highly recommend this project. After the first few tiers of rectangles it becomes some nice mindless knitting. However, I suggest that you check out some alternatives to Noro Silk Garden, such as La Lana Wools Forever Random Blends (the yarn used in the book) or Karaoke by Southwest Trading Company. There must be other alternatives; please let me know if you find any.

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Monday, May 08, 2006

Howdy, I'm back from Rhode Island and ready to blog. First of all, let me just say that the yarn store in Newport was kind of a disappointment. Rachel, be glad you didn't put down that Corona. You didn't miss anything. No exciting yarns, no interesting supplies, and a musty smell. Bah, barely worth the walk down Thames Street. I did buy two balls of something or other that was on sale, but it's not worthy of a picture. Well, at least my fellow travellers were glad that I didn't make them wait long.

We had a great time in Newport -- there was much eating, drinking, shopping, knitting, and general relaxing. Didn't take many pictures, just this one:

Requisite tourist photo of dork standing in front of giant mansion.[Uncool Guy gamely agreed to be said 'dork'.]

That's The Breakers, the 70-room summer "cottage" built by the Vanderbilts. Too bad they don't let you take pics inside, some of the rooms were quite resplendent.

I got some knitting done on the trip, but it was mostly swatching really. I am between projects and I'm having a hard time deciding what to make next. I started a couple projects. More on those next time.

Before I forget, I need to talk about the upcoming Yarn Rant Day that Anne of knitspot is organizing. It's designed to be a day on which knitters around the world send emails to yarn companies that make poor quality yarn. Join us on June 1st, and write an email (or two or three) complaining about excessive knots in yarn (can you say "Noro"?), strange twigs and burrs in yarn (ummm, Noro again), yarns that pill excessively, colors that fade dramatically on first washing, or whatever other major yarn-related annoyances you have encountered.

The idea is to let the yarn companies know that we're mad as heck and we won't buy bad yarn anymore. Anne is hoping that the yarn manufacturers will pay more attention if a whole bunch of complaint emails are delivered on the same day. Ahhhh, we can dream, right? Download Anne's PDF flyer to read more about it.

Speaking of Anne, I have finally finished the socks I was making from the handspun yarn she sent me. I was originally thinking of making socks with a lacy pattern or maybe some cables, but then I decided that I would rather just knit a plain stockinette pair. The color transitions are the focus of this yarn, and I didn't want to obscure that with a 'busy' pattern. So I went with boring old stockinette, but I don't think they came out boring at all. I love them.

I love the colors of this yarn and the way it blends from one shade to the next. There did not seem to be any real color repeat here, so it's a good thing I like nonmatching socks. ;-)

Left Sock

Right Sock

I knit these socks top-down, and things were a little tense for me as I was finishing up the second sock. See if you can guess why by looking at the photo below.

I was totally running on fumes at the end of these socks. I had less than 3yds of yarn left -- a little too close for comfort. I guess I can now appreciate the need for toe-up socks in certain circumstances.